It wasn’t the knee injury that ended Marc Calixte’s football career. It was his son’s reaction to it.

“When I got hurt, my (five-year-old) son saw me on crutches with a big brace on my leg, and he started crying his eyes out,” the longtime Calgary Stampeders linebacker said Tuesday after announcing his retirment.

“I came to realize what I do has a lot bigger impact than what I previously thought.

“That helped in my decision making. It was time to pull the plug and call it a career.”

Calixte was the longest-serving player on the Stamps roster.

The 34-year-old joined the Stampeders in 2003 after being selected in the first round (seventh overall) of the CFL Canadian College Draft out of the University of Tennessee-Martin.

Calixte, who blew out his left knee on Labour Day, was facing a lengthy rehab process if he elected to keep playing.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, but I’d have another six or seven months of rehab to be able to run at full capacity,” he said.

“I wouldn’t have been back until October maybe.”

Calixte suited up for 147 regular-season games in his 10 seasons with the Red & White. He also played in nine playoff contests and was a member of the Stamps’ Grey Cup-winning squad in 2008.

It’s the Grey Cup win, he said, that stands out above all else.

“That was the highlight for me — to be able to play and win the Grey Cup, especially in Montreal in front of my family and friends.”

The Laval, Que., product played for four different head coaches — Jim Barker, Matt Dunigan, Tom Higgins and John Hufnagel — and had 333 teammates.

He endured the Michael Feterik/Fred Fateri gong-show years, when the team, not surprisingly, missed the playoffs.

Finally getting into a post-season game is his second-best memory, he said.

“I’ve seen some transitions,” Calixte said with a laugh. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff.

“(The Feterik years) were a bit of a blur. I came from a team in college that didn’t win a lot of games.

“When we first went to the playoffs under Tom Higgins,

I remember that. I said, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re in the playoffs.’ ”

Calixte went on to thank each of his coaches in detail.

“Tom Higgins and Hufnagel really showed me what character was and what a football player should be,” he said.

“And I know Jim and Dunigan probably had some great thoughts, but I didn’t listen in those years.”

Calixte won’t be bored in retirement.

While his long-term goal is to get into coaching, he has plenty to keep him busy these days in Montreal, where he’s in business ventures involving fitness equipment and coffee, among others.

And he’ll have more time to spend with a dry-eyed Bradley and his little sisters Alissa, 3, and eight-month old Danica.

Calixte walks away from Stamps

Longest-serving player retieres from CFL team

It wasn’t the knee injury that ended Marc Calixte’s football career. It was his son’s reaction to it.

“When I got hurt, my (five-year-old) son saw me on crutches with a big brace on my leg, and he started crying his eyes out,” the longtime Calgary Stampeders linebacker said Tuesday after announcing his retirment.

“I came to realize what I do has a lot bigger impact than what I previously thought.

“That helped in my decision making. It was time to pull the plug and call it a career.”

Calixte was the longest-serving player on the Stamps roster.

The 34-year-old joined the Stampeders in 2003 after being selected in the first round (seventh overall) of the CFL Canadian College Draft out of the University of Tennessee-Martin.

Calixte, who blew out his left knee on Labour Day, was facing a lengthy rehab process if he elected to keep playing.